Congress sets sights on conventions

They railed against government bureaucrats for throwing a lavish conference, and now members of Congress are grappling with their own election year extravaganzas: The Republican and Democratic national conventions.

In the aftermath of Congress’s public shaming of the General Services Administration for throwing an $800,000-plus conference in Las Vegas, lawmakers find themselves squeezed between their rhetoric on fiscal responsibility and the festivities celebrating their presidential nominees — which is costing taxpayers more than $36 million.

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Enter Sen. Tom Coburn.

The combative Oklahoma Republican plans to unveil bipartisan legislation this week that would prohibit future conventions from receiving federal dollars and would call on the committees running the parties’ conventions this year to return the money to the Treasury in order to pay down the national debt. The move is certain to force the leadership in both parties to make an uncomfortable decision: Side with party convention officials using taxpayer money for the presidential coronations or join a growing number of rank-and-file members from both parties backing the populist effort.

“They shouldn’t be taking the money,” Coburn told POLITICO.

Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) has already signed up as a co-sponsor of Coburn’s bill, and interviews with lawmakers from both sides reveal that many more are ready to buck their national parties so they can proclaim the high ground on fiscal concerns.

“I don’t think the parties should get any federal dollars from either side,” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.). “To me, that just strikes me as not necessary.”

“It’s the kind of thing that ought to be eliminated,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking member on the Budget Committee who recently accused federal judges of wasting taxpayer money on a conference in Maui, Hawaii.